SAMSUNG Z1 FIRST TIZEN PHONE TO BE LAUNCHED JANUARY 2015

Samsung Mobile Inc. seems to be finally set to announce its first Tizen phone(long overdue if you ask me).  According to a report in the Korea Economic Daily, a Samsung official firmly said that the tech giant will release its first Tizen phone in January, 2015. This device will be a low-end smartphone and will cost less than $90.  Here is an excerpt from the original report:
“We decided to release the Tizen phone in India on January 18, 2015. The price of the phone is set at less than 100,000 won ($90)”

Now, we are all sure that this launch will indeed take place, courtesy of leaked images of the phone! Yes, we have real pictures of the phone and its specs, thanks to Manish Khatri of Mahesh Telecoms, India. He attended a meeting where retailers were summoned by Samsung to have a look at this new product, and that’s where he took these pictures of the expected Samsung Z1. Enjoy!

The body

UI of the Samsung Z1

Contact UI

There goes the specs of Tizen Os first mobile phone.

Elephone P5000 review: to be packed with 5350mAh battery

Elephone is an emerging smartphone company based in China, but this didn’t stop the company from announcing a unique handset called Elephone P5000.
The design isn’t what makes the Elephone P5000 special, the Elephone P5000 is special because it packs a 5350 mAh battery – the largest ever packed into a smartphone. The previous unofficial record in this regard was set by the Philips W6618 with its 5300 mAh battery.

According to Elephone, the 5350 mAh battery can provide a usage time of up to 4 days. The battery has a fast charging technology (going up to 70% in one hour), and can be used to transfer power to other smartphones and devices (that is used as a powerbank).

Despite the fact that it packs such a huge battery, the Elephone P5000 is relatively thin, measuring 144 x 71 x 9.3 mm. The handset runs Android 4.4 KitKat, and can be considered a typical high-end Chinese smartphone. Its features include a 5-inch 1080p display, fingerprint scanner, NFC, an 8 MP front-facing camera, 16 MP rear camera, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal memory. The phone is powered by an octa-core 1.7 GHz MediaTek MT6592 processor.
The Elephone P5000 is expected to be launched in January 2015, for a price that is yet to be announced.

Microsoft Lumia 940 rumoured to posses 24mp Pureview Camera, 3gb Ram, Windows 10.

The device is said to feature a 5inch display screen that will support a full HD resolution. It is rumored that the upcoming Lumia 940 will be well equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for screen protection.

The Microsoft Lumia 940 will have a quad-core Snapdragon 805 SoC processor clocked at a speed of 2.7GHz along with Adreno 420 graphics and 3GB of RAM.

A feature that many users will cherish is the camera, which will be a 24mp rear camera with PureView and it will support 4K video shooting at 60FPS.

The device will also feature a 5mp secondary camera and will also support HD video recording.

The Lumia 940 is 8.9m thick, it measures around 131x71mm and it weight is set at 149grams.  The new camera feature that will come on Lumia 940 will be much more compact.  

Microsoft may most likely opt for the same design that Lumia 930 has to the upcoming Lumia 940.

Lumia 940 will be encompassed with NFC, Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, and Bluetooth and will come with an internal memory of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB variants.

As for the operating system, it seems that Lumia 940 will not come with the Windows 8.1 which is currently the latest Windows Phone operating system out there. The Lumia 940 will operate on a new and yet legally unannounced Windows Phone 10 OS.

Microsoft Lumia 940 will most likely not be launched very soon as Microsoft is currently busy launching some other devices such as the Lumia 535 and Lumia 1330.

Download Android 5.0 Lollipop Gapps

Since the day the Android 5.0 Lollipop source code was uploaded. Many  Android 5.0 based ROMs are surfacing through out the developer forums . Since these are built from pure AOSP source code, they come without the Google services and you have to get a Gapps package to fill this abyss. But the haunting thing is there is no proper Gapps package for the 5.0 ROMs which takes the fun out of these builds.

However, with time there comes a workaround for everything and this time it comes from drewwalton19216801 of XDA forums. A complete Gapps package would usually be around 200-300 MB depending on the number of Google apps and services included in the package. Looking at the size of drewwalton19216801’s Gapps package which is roughly around 117 MB, we can say that it is just a pack of bare bones. You can take a look at the services included from the list below:

Google Now
Setup Wizard
Gmail
Cloud Print
Google Calendar
Google Now Home
Play Store
Google Plus
Base required Google Services

Leaving aside the small number of apps included in the package, we can say that this is the only Gapps that was successfully installed on Android 5.0 AOSP builds as of now. Anyway, it’s no crime in getting our hands dirty in the world of Android tinkering. So buckle up and download the Gapps package from the link provided below.

Download Gapps for Android 5.0 Lollipop.

BlackBerry CEO: John Chen meets with Lenovo, HTC, Xaomi Top Men

BlackBerry CEO John Chen has noted several times already that the next step in his plan for BlackBerry is to grow the company and one place where he sees opportunity, due to the demand for security, encryption and privacy is in China.

Attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in Beijing, John Chen sat down with Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun, and Lenovo’s head Yang Yuanqing along with Cher Wang, chairwoman of Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC Corp. Speaking in an interview after the summit, Chen provided more information.

It does seem that a more efficient way is to have a good partner to be here,” Chen said in the interview. “I’m here this time to look at what opportunities there may be. We have not really focused on this market. It’s a huge market but it’s a very highly competitive market too.

Fully aware of the rumors his comments might start, Chen was quick to note that he wasn’t there looking for a sale of BlackBerry but instead exploring the opportunities for agreements on technology licensing, distribution or manufacturing. “I’m not looking to sell the company,” Chen said. “I’m very much looking to operate the company as an independent company.”

“What I’m doing is to explore what is the right approach to the market given what we do well and I’m not shutting any doors,” Chen said. “This market is not an easy one to get deals done quickly. It’s going to take a while, but I’m interested.”

Despite John Chen’s cautionary comments, BBRY stock is on the rise today based on the information.

Google Glass may cause “blind spot” in vision : New Study

A new study has found that Wearing Google Glass may partially obstruct peripheral vision, causing blind spots that could interfere with daily tasks such as driving.

Scientists of the University of California, San Francisco,  compared performance on visual field tests with a head-mounted device over regular eyewear to quantify their effect on visual function. Three healthy individuals with 20/20 best-corrected visual acuity and normal baseline visual fields were tested in April 2014.

Participants used a wearable device (Google Glass), following manufacturer’s instructions, for a 60-minute period.

Perimetric visual testing (a measurement of the field of vision) was conducted first with the device, followed by a control frame (regular eyewear) of similar colour and temple width.

Visual field testing demonstrated significant scotomas (blind spots) in all three participants while wearing the device, creating a clinically meaningful visual field obstruction in the upper right quadrant.

Defects were induced by the Google Glass frame hardware design only and were not related to a distracting effect of software-related interference.

The authors noted that the study is limited by the small number of participants, who may not be representative of all users, and that a larger sample is needed to identify factors that influence scotoma size and depth.

“Additional studies are needed to understand the effects of these devices on visual function, particularly as their use becomes increasingly common,” the authors concluded.

Download Car parking game 3D

Game description: Car parking game 3D

WARNING!
The most challenging game of its kind.
Play at your own risk!Car Parking Game 3D is an amazing car parking simulator game that requires highest precision! The parking situation in Car Parking Game 3D will require you to show top skills in steering, acceleration, and obstacle avoidance to get those vehicles parked in parking places. As the parking lot driver, you will drive the awesome cars around corners, obstacles, and parking lot borders with speed and accuracy.

Drive a car through a difficult rout on a parking lot. Drive over different obstacles and other cars. Park your card in said place. Show your driving skills by performing a variety of tasks in this Android game. Carefully drive a car along a route marked by cones. Successfully park your car without colliding with obstacles. Buy new cars. Upgrade your car, improve acceleration, brakes, etc. Change the look of your car, replace the wheels and license plate.

Game features:

1. Great graphics
2. 17 different cars
3. 4 game modes
4. 2 parking lots 100 levels each

 

Download from Google Play Store

Google developing Cancer and Heart disease detector

The company is working on technology that combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient’s bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor.
The idea is to identify slight changes in the person’s biochemistry that could act as an early warning system.
The work is still at an early stage.
Early diagnosis is the key to treating disease. Many cancers, such as pancreatic, are detected only after they have become untreatable and fatal.
There are marked differences between cancerous and healthy tissues.
Google’s ambition is to constantly monitor the blood for the unique traces of cancer, allowing diagnosis long before any physical symptoms appear.
The project is being conducted by the search company’s research unit, Google X, which is dedicated to investigating potentially revolutionary innovations.

Android 5.0 Lollipop: What’s New and Updated

Android Lollipop

Google previewed ‘Android L’ at its Google I/O developer event in June, and since then, developers and consumers have awaited the final version, which was finally announced on Wednesday as Android 5.0 Lollipop ‘L’.
The company also launched the platform
lead devices for Android 5.0 Lollipop, namely the Nexus 6 ,Nexus 9, and Nexus Player.
Since the Android L preview earlier this year, Google has added several new features to the final release of Android 5.0 Lollipop.
While some changes are extensions of the themes introduced in Android L, some are relatively new, and other previously known features have now been detailed by the search giant.

Here are some of the biggest changes that Google brought to its widely-popular mobile and tablet platform with Android 5.0 Lollipop:

Material Design
First up is the ambitious Material Design. Remember when Google had introduced Android L saying that this next version will receive a complete visual overhaul for a consistent experience across devices? Well, here it is. Android 5.0 Lollipop features a cleaner, flatter design with a more fluid interface and animations.
We saw the revamped navigation and status bar in the Android L preview, and Google has stuck to the design but now the status bar can be coloured or kept transparent (depending on the
app) and features refreshed status icons. The ‘Quick settings’ menu has also been revamped, and includes new controls like
flashlight, hotspot, cast screen controls and more. Also new is the toggle for location services. The recent apps menu or task switcher now appears like a stack of cards instead of a list of screenshots of recently open apps which is cool.
Google explains the new Material Design for Android 5.0 Lollipop as “A bold, colorful, and responsive UI design for consistent, intuitive experiences across all your devices.
Responsive, natural motion, realistic lighting and shadows, and familiar visual elements make it easier to navigate your device.

Vivid new colors, typography, and edge-to-edge imagery help to focus your attention.”

Improved Notifications/ Lock Screen
Android 5.0 Lollipop’s lock screen displays richer notifications, and users can view and respond to messages directly from the
lock screen. In fact, Google has further gone ahead with notifications and included rich floating descriptive notifications on top of your activity. Users will be able to view or dismiss any
notifications without moving away from an activity.
Essentially, Google has provided better overall control for Notifications.

Users will be able to control notifications triggered by their apps, and choose to hide sensitive content, apart from prioritising or turning off an app’s notifications completely. Android 5.0 Lollipop users can also turn on ‘Priority mode’ via the device’s volume button and allow notifications from only certain people or apps to be shown – users can schedule when Priority mode turns on as
well. The feature also works as a Do Not Disturb mode as seen in Apple’s iOS, and allows users to also selectively silence notifications and calls on the Android device.
Importantly, Google has also now downgraded the priority that incoming phone calls are given, and users can now choose to answer the call, cancel it, or just continue to do what they were doing without waiting for the call to end.

Kill Switch and Improved Security
Android 5.0 Lollipop will come with an opt-in kill switch dubbed ‘Factory Reset Protection’, which will allow users to wipe out the device’s data on will. If a user activates this feature, they will be
required to enter their Google login to factory reset the device and it will only work when the phone passcode is enabled. Google
also says that new devices come with encryption automatically turned on to help protect data on lost or stolen devices. Google
had announced the feature last month, after Apple revealed its own version . Not much is known about this feature yet rest assured we will update you as it comes…
Users will also get an Android Smart Lock feature to secure their device by pairing it with a trusted device like a wearable or even their car, says Google.

New Messenger App
There is a new Messenger app that will be shipping with the Nexus 6 as part of Android 5.0 Lollipop It is said to be a more simplified of Hangouts, and is not a replacement for it, says a Google spokesperson, “Messenger and Hangouts offer users choice, each have their own benefits. Hangouts work great for cross platform (web, iOS, Android) and cross medium communications (video, voice,messaging, SMS).  Messenger will be specially designed to be a quick and easy way to send and receive SMS and MMS messages on Android Nexus 6 will come with both apps.

Device Sharing
Google has finally brought device sharing features that will help users share their Android 5.0 Lollipop device with members of their family and friends without worrying about access to sensitive content. Android 5.0 Lollipop features a guest user mode with custom options for access, as well as screen pinning that lets users fix in place the screen that’s displayed without allowing guests to go further. Interestingly, it has also introduced a new feature in Android L that lets users log in to another Android phone to access synced messages and content in case they forget their phone at home.
Battery Saver
Google has also added a new battery saver feature to Android 5.0 Lollipop, claiming to extend device battery life by up to 90 minutes. Android 5.0 Lollipop will also display the estimated time left to fully charge the device when plugged in, as well as the estimated time left on the device before the user needs to charge again.

Quick Device Set Up
Google has introduced new ways for users to set up their devices with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Users can instantly set up their new Android phone or tablet by simply tapping it on their old device – though this requires NFC support. All apps from Google Play are also carried over on the new device, as long as the same Google account is being used.
Other new features in Android 5.0 Lollipop include the new ART Android runtime for improved application performance and responsiveness; support for 64-bit devices and SoCs; native 64-bit apps; improved hardware keyboard accessory support (including support for multilingual, emoji input, search key, and improved app and system key chords), support for 15 new languages (including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu); improved accessibility features (such as text contrast boost, colour inversion, and enhanced colour differentiation); improved audio, video, and camera capabilities, and improved Internet connectivity everywhere and with more powerful Bluetooth low energy

Keyboard
The keyboard app for Android L is stylish and colourful than it predecessor. Awesome swiping, improved personalized typing, improved dictionary and material design .  Good thing developers on XDA already ported it and it can work on devices running Android 4.1+ .Get yours here

Report: Apple Pay To Launch on 18th October

An internal memo addressed to Walgreens employees designed to prepare them for the upcoming launch of Apple Pay suggests that Apple’s new payments service might be going live on Saturday, October 18.

A Saturday launch is unusual, but it could make sense as Apple Pay is designed for in-store shopping and a weekend debut would give customers time to try the service. It is, however, also possible that Apple Pay will go live shortly before the October 18 date, following the company’s Thursday, October 16 iPad event, with support coming to Walgreens a day or two later.

At its October 16 event, Apple is expected to debut a new iPad Air, Retina iMacs, and possibly a new Retina iPad mini. The event, which will also likely see Apple previewing OS X Yosemite one last time before its public debut, would also be an opportune time to divulge more information about Apple Pay and possibly even launch the payments service.

As announced on September 9, popular drug store Walgreens is one of Apple’s major launch partners, along with other companies like McDonalds, Macy’s, Staples, and more. According to the Walgreens memo, customers who have an iPhone 6 will be able to use Apple Pay in Walgreens stores by tapping their devices “to the upper portion of the pinpad to pay for their purchase.”

Earlier this week, USAA assistant vice president Vikram Parekh suggested the bank would begin supporting Apple Pay on November 7, leading many to believe the service might see an official launch on that date, but it is possible that USAA and other banks may roll out support at different times following the launch of Apple Pay. Apple originally promised an October launch for Apple Pay when it unveiled the service.

Apple Pay will be enabled on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices through an update to iOS 8. iOS 8.1, which has already been seeded to developers, includes hidden Apple Pay settings and set up screens. With Apple Pay set to launch on or around the time of Apple’s October 16 event, that also means we should be seeing iOS 8.1 at that time as well.

Culled from Macrumours